New towel takes on germs and odors

September 11, 2005|By Deborah Baldwin, New York Times News Service

This month -- too late for that soggy-textile depot known as the beach house but high season for the odor incubator known as the dormitory -- WestPoint Stevens will introduce a Martex towel that is able to fend off mold, mildew and odor-causing bacteria. The towel sounds as if it practically cleans itself.

A self-cleaning towel may be a ways off, but fungus-resistant terry should interest parents whose children think "please hang it up" is a foreign phrase. Jamie Jaffe, a Burlington, Mass., mother of two teenage boys, says one of them dropped a different wet towel in the middle of the floor for five days in a row. "It's absolutely worse in summer," Jaffe said of the smelly-towel challenge.

Not long ago, bacteria control was an obsession of hospital administrators, not homemakers. Now, however, microbe slayers are moving from soap and sponges to countertops, faucets and flooring -- to curtains, keyboards, paint and wallpaper, even dog bowls. The Environmental Protection Agency, which helps regulate anti-microbial products, says they are a $1-billion-a-year industry.

In recent months, it also has become controversial. Scientists contend that the widespread use of germ killers may be bad for the environment and human health, and the EPA is reviewing the potential impact of one of the most commonly used ingredients, triclosan, which is used in the new towels.

Assault on microbes

Towels are just the beginning of the anti-microbial assault on linen closets. "We're testing it for sheets," said Robert B. Dale, the president of WestPoint Stevens' bed and bath division.

Bearing the name Grand Patrician Ultra Touch and a prominent Microban hang tag, the new towel will cost about $20. The Grand Patrician stays on the microbes' case for at least 50 washings, company tests show.

"Consumers are really demanding it," said Billy Henry, president of Microban International, a company in Charlotte, N.C., that has licensed its product for use in the new towels and other home products.

In surveys, 63 percent of respondents "think it's important to prevent a damp mildew odor on their towels," Henry said. A sample set of Grand Patrician Ultra Touch towels seemed to do just that. A moist washcloth, left balled up in a plastic bag for three sweltering days, retained its factory-fresh charcoal-and-hospital-corridor scent. A sound laundering wiped even that away.

In the wake of a legal dispute with the EPA, manufacturers avoid making health-related claims about killing germs. But the word microbes is allowed. Advertisements emphasize the aesthetics of a clean household where stains do not stick, mildew cannot take root and no smell -- whether from microbe-infested armpits, fruit pits or pit bulls -- can linger.

But that is no license to leave your damp towels in a dark hamper for weeks on end. "You're not approaching a sterile environment," said Dr. Wayne Swofford, vice president of Microban for research and development, explaining that anti-microbials merely inhibit the manic growth of the micro-organisms that cause stinks and stains.

Triclosan is an anti-microbial workhorse that has been in the news because of several recent studies raising questions about its potential environmental impact. Researchers in one study found that when triclosan combines with the chlorine in tap water, it forms chloroform, which could be inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Other studies found that when exposed to sunlight, triclosan can break down into a form of dioxin. The implications are unknown but potentially troubling, said Urvashi Rangan, an environmental health scientist at Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports.

A spokeswoman for the EPA, Enesta Jones, said the agency was investigating the possible impact of any dioxinlike byproduct as part of a review scheduled for completion in two years.

Potential for harm?

In any event, some experts say, anti-microbial products are unnecessary and possibly even harmful. The American Medical Association opposes their use outside a health-care setting.

Dr. Roberto Kolter, professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at Harvard Medical School, said in an e-mail message that killing every microbe in the household is "tantamount to a scorched-earth policy."

"It makes little ecological sense to obliterate microbial populations when the overwhelmingly vast majority of organisms that are being killed are not only non-pathogenic but more likely beneficial," he wrote. Kolter has a doomsday scenario in which rampant anti-microbial products wipe out weak bacteria, giving rise to resistant mutant strains: "War of the Worlds," writ small.

Similar concerns led to a July 28 announcement by the Food and Drug Administration that it was banning the use of an antibiotic in poultry.